Uber valuation said to be upwards of $17B

Bids for on-demand car service app Uber are said to be valuing the company at $17 billion, rumors say. Some are walking away, having reached their limit for the app’s valuation well below that (but still, many say, ranking it in the billions with an “s”).

General Atlantic, Blackrock, and Technology Crossover Ventures are said to have interest in Uber with investment in the half billion range and valuation over $10-12B. Recently, however, General Atlantic pulled from the bidding without citing a reason, though likely because the valuations kept climbing.

Last summer, Uber had a valuation of about $3.5 billion, but this latest round seems to see the app as being far more profitable now that it’s globally accessible. Currently, the three most valuable startups in terms of valuation are Airbnb, Dropbox, and Xiaomi, all given valuations of about $10 billion (each) in the last year.

To put that into perspective, Spotify’s latest valuation had it at only $4 billion, Elon Musk’s SpaaceX at just $4.8 billion, and Uber at just $3.8 billion in their last rounds of funding.

Uber is aiming to raise about $500 million this round, but may have to “settle” for more than that if its valuation continues upward and investors go along with that.

Things are certainly getting crazy in the startup world. Let’s see where this leads.